Fan for ventilating mines



(No Model.)

W. VIG-GERS.

FAN FOR VENTILATING MINES, 650.

No. 328,549. Patented 001;. 20, 1885.

' UNITED STATES PATENT omen...

\VILLIAM VIGGERS, OF DES MOINES, IOWVA.

FAN FOR VE NTILATING MINES, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 328,549, dated October 20, 1885.

Application filed November 29, 1884. Serial No. 149,197. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM VIGGERS, of Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented an Improved Fan for Ventilating Mines, &c., of which the following is a specification.

My object is to provide a rotary fan that is equally well adapted to be used at pleasure as a plenum engine or a vacuum engine, for pressing pure air into a mine or exhausting foul air therefrom, and that will move a greater quantity of air in a given time than any other rotary fan of equal diameter.

Heretofore flat fan-shaped blades have been fixed to a rotating shaft by means of flat disks to extend radially and diagonally from the shaft to a concentric rim, and the complete fan placed in aconcentric case. Curved blades have also been extended spirally around a cone-shaped hub ona shaft, and blades having concave faces and convex backs have been fixed to arms extending radially from a shaft; but in no instance have fan shaped blades been flat at their inner or small ends and doubly curved at their wide and outer ends in such a manner that their edges would project in reverse ways to catch air by a concave surface at the forward edge, and to allow the air to pass off on the rear edge of the same blade over a convex surface, as contemplated by my invention.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a side view, and Figs. 2 and 3 end views, showing my fan combined with a cylinder. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of my blade, having a double curvature. Fig. 5 is a side view of a collar adapted for fastening the blade to the shaft. Jointly considered, these figures clearly illustrate the construction and operation of my complete invention.

A represents a portable frame.

B represents a cylinder closed at the rear end, and provided with a vertical open-ended extension, 0, and fixed within the frame A.

D is an elbow at the opposite and open end of the cylinder, that is adapted to be connected with the mouth of a ventilating-shaft in a ID1116- F is a rotating shaft in bearings attached to the frame A and extending longitudinally through the center of the cylinder B.

G represents a belt-wheel fixed to the shaft F in such a manner that the shaft and complete fan can be rotated by means of a belt, and its motion reversed by simply crossing the belt and without reversing the motion of the engine connected therewith by means of the belt.

H represents one of my fan blades, made from a triangular shaped plate of metal by bending its side edges in opposite directions to produce a double curvature through its cross-section and end, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

J represents a collar adapted for fastening the small end of the blade H to the shaft F. Ithas a series of flanges, K, extending radially and diagonally from its periphery in such a manner that the small end of each blade can be readily bolted thereto to extend from the shaft in the same manner. One or two collars thus formed may be used for fastening the blades to the shaft.

L is a ring or circular brace fixed to the free ends of the blades H by means of rivets or screw-bolts, to prevent them from bending.

In the practical operation of my improved rotating fan one of the concaves of the double curvatures of each blade will catch air and press it toward, over, and past the convex surface of the curvature at the opposite edge, and the concave on the other edge will present its convex surface in the direction of the current to resist the backward pressure of the volume of air that is moved forward by the joint action of the entire series of blades that practically overlap each other, as shown in Fig. 3, to present a continuous surface to resist the back-pressure in the cylinder.

I am aware that wings on a shaft in a centrifugal pump have been doubly curved across their longitudinal diameters, and that the wings of a rotary fan have been set radially and diagonally on a shaft to overlap each other; but my manner of making double curves parallel with the longitudinal diameter of the wing, so as to project the edges in reverse ways relative toa line drawn through the 1ongitudinal diameter of the wing, for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of the wings to catch and move air through the fan, and

augmenting the volume and speed of the air tending parallel with their longitudinal diameters and their straight edges projected in reverse ways relative to a line drawn parallel with one of the edges and through the central portion of each wing, and a rotating shaft,

substantially vas shown and described, to operate inthe manner set forth, for the purposes stated. 1

WILLIAM VIGGERS.

Witnesses:

THOMAS G. ORWIG, ORRA O. Moor-arr 

